Living Off the Land

Drip, drip, drop, little April showers— this little ditty runs through my
head every spring. It’s a happy little song
and perfectly fitting to my cheerful mood
as I look forward to the spring rains. Not
only is rain a promise of warmer days
ahead, it fills our rain tanks and waters
our garden.

Rain is an extremely precious gift, yet it’s
easy for folks to forget that when they
have to don raincoats or search the house
for that lost umbrella. It’s just one more
thing to think about when one is in a hurry to get out the door in the morning.

But my family is a little different becauserain is a big deal in our house. It’s noteven close to being an inconvenience. It’sa cause for rejoicing and thanksgiving be-cause we know God has provided for ourneeds. It warms my mama’s heart to seemy four-year-old prancing and singingin his little sing-song voice as it begins torain. “It’s raining! It’s raining!” he sings ashe parades around the house. He is learn-ing the value of a free resource, one thatshould be collected and used to providefor our needs.

Just like my children, I grew up using
rainwater. As a child of missionaries, it
was plentiful in our tropical home of Papua New Guinea. In the “rainy season,” the
clouds would empty their reservoirs every—and I do mean every—afternoon.
We would clamber to get our clothes
off the line before we got drenched. I’ll
never forget the rains of my childhood.
They were good, solid rains—the kind of
rain you stand in for a mere ten seconds
and get completely soaked ... the kind of
rain that fills rain tanks in an afternoon.
We relied on it exclusively as our only
source of water. The rain flowing off our
1,000-square-foot roof provided all the
water we needed for our family of four.

As a child, I took for granted that ourwater was free. It never entered my mindthat a price could be charged for water,and even worse that there could be lawspassed to purposely limit the ability tocollect rainwater. Yes, depending onwhere you live, you could be fined oreven spend time in jail for collectingrainwater or using it in what is deemedan “inappropriate” way. It’s amazing thatthere are so many rules associated with afree resource falling from the sky!

If you desire to implement some kind of
rainwater collection system, make sure
you check the laws in your state and
municipality. On a positive note, western
states that have historically had the strictest laws against rainwater collection have
been forced recently to take a second
look at those laws because of drought
conditions in that region of the United
States.

Colorado, one of the strictest states,
has lightened up a bit and now allows